For the Urals metallurgists of the early Iron Age the Dumnaya Gora was of a particular importance. Numerous remains of copper production and the copper and bronze items registered there evidenced that the Dumnaya Gora was a base point in the system of the Trans-Ural (Itkul) center of metallurgy. Different excavations of the site by various researchers provided suffi cient material for a comprehensive description of the site. The article focuses on the description of the settlement’s fortifi cations. Detailed analysis of the fortifi cations made possible to review the earlier conclusions, and gain better understanding of the level of the technical and practical knowledge of the Itkul population.